


Happy Times

by DaggerStar



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Death, F/M, My SS Val in her official canon form, Very minor cursing, allusions to sex, there are only brief mentions of deacon and des btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 08:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16114619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaggerStar/pseuds/DaggerStar
Summary: Life is made up of moments. These are some of Valentia Reyna's.





	Happy Times

**Author's Note:**

> Each paragraph is a different moment in her life.

   Mr. and Mrs. Reyna were proud of their second eldest daughter for pursuing a law degree, but Val could tell her _familia_ was sad to see her go all the way to Boston, Massachusetts for it. The goodbye party was long and upbeat, with Valentia’s three siblings challenging her to a drinking contest, her parents and grandparents shoving gifts in her face, and her friends asking all sorts of questions. She had a grand time and, by nightfall, was tuckered out and ready for the next day's plane trip.

 

   Suffolk County School of Law was amazing, and everything Val had hoped for. It was a long way from Reno, but worth it. All those endless nights of studying, working hard to achieve her degree, and she did it. At last, Valentia Reyna was a lawyer. Her  _ familia  _ celebrated with her, flying cross-country to congratulate her. Graduation night made her smile so hard, her cheeks ached in the best way possible.

 

   When Val met Nate, it wasn't love at first sight as much as it was...lust. On a frosty winter's morning, Val sat in a cafe, waiting impatiently for her latte when a pretty man walked in. He was wearing a leather jacket, and slim jeans that certainly made Val look twice. And when Nate walked into that cafe, he couldn't help but catch the eye of the most striking red-head he'd ever seen. He sat down next to her at the counter, and was just about to introduce himself when Valentia did. “Val,” she had said with a smirk, sticking her hand out. Their handshake had lasted a second longer than typical, and that morning, there was an exchanging of numbers.

 

   Traditionally, the man proposes to the woman; an idea that made Val scoff. Nate didn't propose to Val, and neither did Val to Nate. The couple's proposal was mutual, talked through and planned. They had gone on a vacation in northern California, where they discussed furthering their relationship and decided that both of them longed for marriage to the other. After their conversation, Valentia and Nate kissed happily, and spent the night together in the same bed, celebrating the mutual proposal. The next morning, a bottle of Veuve was sacrificed to the excited couple.

 

   The wedding was quaintly designed, but still rambunctious in its practice. Val had worn a long, white, mermaid gown with a lacey cape and matching veil. Nate’s tuxedo was a midnight blue with black, regal accents and a black bowtie. After their vows, the newlyweds danced the night away. Family members on both sides ate, drank, and were truly merry. It was a beautiful event that Valentia and Nate cherished with all their hearts. Once the wedding trickled down, the two of them retired to the bedroom, rose petals laid out on the silky sheets. That day, they had vowed that only death would part their bond.

 

   Nate went off to fight in the war. “War never changes, you know that,” Val had told him sadly before he left. Nate kissed her goodbye deeply and passionately. With him, he took a couple photos of her. During the time he was away, Val held onto that kiss, the thought of him tucking a photo of her into his helmet, and powered through. Working and worrying at the same time proved difficult, but Val had always been an adept multitasker. Being a full-time lawyer didn't give her a break to think about Nate until the dead of night overtook Boston, and she felt like she was the only person on Earth. But Valentia Reyna kept going because that's who she is.

 

   The day after Nate came back from the war, the married couple didn't leave their bed, doing various things together after waiting so long. A couple weeks, and one pregnancy test later, and they were overjoyed with the news. Val was expecting. That same day, she and Nate called every family member possible to tell them the great news. When it was time for the baby shower, Nate and Valentia received too many gifts to count, and even more well-wishes. A little over a month later was the delivery. The pain was excruciating, even with an epidural, but Val fought through. She nearly broke Nate’s hand from squeezing so hard. After seventeen hours of labour, the light of Val’s life arrived. Shaun. He was the cutest little jelly bean Nate and Val had ever seen, with her light brown eyes, and his black hair. They both cried tears of joy.

 

   The day the bombs fell was like any other day; normal. Nate was getting ready for the event at the Veterans’ Hall in Concord, shaving in the mirror with a straight razor. Val was checking on Shaun, spinning his mobile for him. The couple's Mr. Handy, Codsworth, brewed some coffee in the kitchen. Then came a knock on the door, a Vault-Tec representative asking for info about the family, checking things off, writing things down. He thanked Val for her time and made his way to his vehicle. After the door closed, the TV flickered to an emergency broadcast, stating that the USA was under nuclear attack. Nate grabbed Shaun and they sprinted to the nearby vault. Val would never forget the bright orange mushroom cloud, and dry heat rushing across her face as the new residents of Vault 111 were lowered down the elevator just in time. They were led to the decontamination chambers, Nate and Shaun in one, and Val in another. Suddenly, a sharp frost overcame Val and then, nothingness.

 

   The bliss of nothing didn't last forever. Val was groggy when she woke up, blinking her eyes several times to see what was going on. Everything on the other side of the Plexiglas seemed too dark, and two strange figures opened Nate's pod. Val yelled and hit and screamed all she could, but nothing she did stopped the bullet that sliced through her beloved husband's brain. All she saw after that moment was red surrounding the scarred face of the man that spoke at her afterwards, and all she heard were Shaun’s cries.

 

   Skeletons were spread across Sanctuary. Old friends Val used to attend dinner parties with. Codsworth was there, and it took everything in Val not to run up to him and embrace the robot butler. It was when she had to fight her way to the Minutemen with a 10mm pistol that it truly donned on Val that the Boston, hell, the  _ world  _ she once knew was gone. After finding detective Nick Valentine and seeing what he was, Val’s eyes were opened to the horrors of post-war America and she was terrified. But she still fought through raiders, super mutants, irradiated animals, all for Shaun. For Nate. And after a while, Val stopped being so scared. After a while, Val learned to suppressed the fright and anxiety of this new world.

 

   When Val hired some merc in The Third Rail, she was relieved to finally have someone by her side that wasn't personally invested in her life story. Two hundred caps was worth it to have someone trained and reliable. His Gunners problem was just that to Val,  _ his problem _ . MacCready seemed to enjoy being an ass sometimes, much to Valentia’s dismay. But he was useful, teaching her some things about guns and survival while on their journeys. For a seasoned man of the wasteland such as he, it seemed odd he didn't curse. That was his problem, though, and Val didn't ask.

 

   Until she did. The two misfits had grown from employer and employee to friends after a while. They shared small tidbits of their lives to one another in bursts. Val had already made quite a few friends across the commonwealth, from a reporter to a mayor to actual robots; not a single one of them compared to MacCready. When the young merc told Val about the Gunners, and then his son, she knew she had to help him. So many people in this hellish new world were willing to aid her in finding Shaun, the least she could do was put back out some of that kindness. The two of them shared a light, yet long kiss after MacCready was finally able to send the cure out to Duncan. In that moment, it was easy to forget the horrors that had brought Val there.

 

   The more Valentia Reyna learned about what was happening, the more disheartened she became. The Institute sending out Kellogg to kidnap Shaun and bring him back. Settlements barely being able to get off the ground, let alone be safe havens. All of the Vault-Tec experiments gone wrong. And then, Val met him.  _ Father _ , he called himself. The young synth boy behind glass was Shaun. Shaun, right there in front of her, but not really. Every bit of ache in her heart that she'd pushed away during the hunt for her son resurfaced the moment she laid eyes on the boy. Her beautiful Shaun with her eyes and Nate’s hair wasn't really,  _ truly  _ there. Not in the form she expected, anyway. Father, leader of the Institute, was the baby boy she'd been hunting for. When Val relayed back to the surface, she fell to her knees and sobbed.

 

   Valentia Reyna patted down the pockets of freshly killed raiders, grabbing their caps, ammo, and aid. Some of the raiders held headshots, while some had body shots. Val wasn't as accurate as MacCready yet, but she was getting there. Hard work and dedication. She made herself useful to the various factions of the commonwealth that weren't seeking to do harm like the Brotherhood. As long as she saw caps and an appreciative glance at the end of a job, Val would be more than happy to get it done. The Railroad had tasked her with infiltrating the Institute, which she agreed to do. But the more she thought about seeing Shaun, her own son, so old, the worse off she became. When Desdemona confronted Val about this procrastination, Val had no choice but to explain the situation. Every word she spoke was like a dagger to her own heart. The Institute were stealing people away from their lives, replacing them, spying on the wasteland. Shaun was the leader. Deacon had given Val a consoling pat on the back that night, but she was done being consoled.

 

   The boy behind the Plexiglas was a carbon copy, Shaun explained to Val once more. Meant to replace him, give her the chance to be a mother. To watch her son grow up. After she became the director of the Institute, taking a dying Shaun’s place. As Val stood on the balcony of her son's office, looking out into the bright, clean establishment, she thought of him. Val thought of all the moments she and Nate missed with Shaun because of those goddamn bombs. Suddenly, a certain beloved merc came to mind, as well as the friends she made on the surface, despite all the bullshit she'd gone through to get there. Val furrowed her brows and looked back at Shaun one last time.

 

   Valentia Reyna is covered in dirt, blood, and bruises. She uses her lawyerly skills to lie, swindle, and extort. Beside her is her fiancé, MacCready. Sitting in her living room in Sanctuary, she thinks about her past, present, and future. Ever since she came out of that vault, Val has kept moving forward, kept pushing herself to survive. Though her reasons for staying alive have changed over the past few months, her living status has not. She's still here, breathing, surrounded by friends who would fight with her till the end. Val looks down at her Pip-Boy and switches on Diamond City Radio, leaning back on the couch. The back of her eyes burn with pressure, but no tears fall. She's Valentia Reyna, after all. General of the Minutemen, agent for the Railroad, acting director of the Institute, part-time mercenary, and above all else: a woman who just keeps on going.


End file.
